Welcome back to my life dear readers! It has been close to a year since I’ve updated this blog.

Most of you are aware already, but in case I have readers who aren’t, I no longer live in Edmundston, NB; I don’t work at the mill anymore and have since moved away and I am not even a little bit sad about it!

My employment in the states ended and at first it was a major blow, I was really sad and felt a little worthless to be honest. I didn’t really know what to do with myself. I moved back home with my parents, Jake and Iza in tow and was going to sink my teeth into professional job hunting.

I had a couple of interviews and things were going ok.. I don’t know what I would have done if my parents hadn’t welcomed me back home with such open arms and support. Especially when I was bringing two dogs along! Thankfully Zeke (my family dog) got along great with Jake and Iza.

This picture’s a little bit old, but still cute

Even though I had had a couple of interviews that felt like they’d gone well I didn’t land a permanent position. So I decided, almost on a whim, to go back to school.

It was getting to the point where I couldn’t afford to be unemployed anymore, what with car payments; student loan payments; and regular bills continuing to come in, so going back to school meant putting my loan payments on pause while I studied and hopefully making me more employable after graduating with a Masters Degree.

All of this brings me to now, I’m living in Halifax, was accepted to Dalhousie University to take my Masters in Environmental Engineering (with funding!) and I couldn’t be happier. It feels amazing to be studying something that I actually enjoy and have voluntarily signed up for. It’s so much easier to find motivation when it’s something you’re passionate about. My research project is on energy reductions in water treatment, so given that I’m a giant environmentalist and very interested in the world’s energy predicament this masters program has got me super excited.

I’ll be focussing on UV treatment of water, both drinking and wastewater, trying to reduce the amount of energy that process requires. So far I’ve got relationships with Halifax Water set up and I’m told I’ll be working with Cape Breton’s water commission as well! All of this gets me so pumped.

Though leaving Edmundston after the position at the mill didn’t work out seemed devastating at the moment, it was certainly a blessing in disguise (read: blessings aren’t really a thing, this is purely for expressional purposes). I’m living in a new, awesome city that I’ve always liked; Jeff lives here too (he’s taking a second degree at Dal as well!); my brother lives here; AND I’m doing research in a field that excites me.

OH! And my room mate also has a puppy! That means there are three dogs in my house. Three. Two super big ones, and one super small one. His name is Apollo and the three of them get along so well.

Small world story: Jamie (the room mate) ended up living with me because he lived with Jeff in PEI when Jeff first moved from Ontario! So Jeff knew Jamie was coming to Halifax and needed a place to live and told us to talk to each other.
Jamie’s awesome; it’s a great thing when your roommate isn’t just someone who helps pay rent and instead is a friend eh?